Canada is the world’s second country, after Uruguay, to make marijuana legal for recreational use. Under the new law, Canadians can grow up to four plants at home, purchase dried flowers (buds) and low-potency oil extracts from federally and provincially regulated retailers, and possess up to 30 grams — a little over an ounce — of pot in public. These specifics, says Hathaway, are where the rules can turn on users.

Decriminalization, he explains, would have removed criminal penalties for getting caught with the drug, but legalization puts Canada’s federal and provincial governments in charge of the marijuana marketplace. Under this system, any seller who doesn’t get with the program — including the many illegal dispensaries currently operating across Canada — could face criminal penalties. Though these dispensaries have operated with relative impunity for some time, the new rules could give law enforcement the motivation to pursue them.

Canada’s parliament passed a new impaired driving law the same week that the marijuana law passed, giving police the sweeping authority to compel any driver to take a roadside sobriety test.

The government is telling all of the medical marijuana dispensaries all over Canada that they have to shut down and get a new permit, or risk being arrested, because they are now all ‘illegal’, since no more medical marijuana can be sold legally. What a cluster F#*K.

Now police can also pull anyone over and based on behavior, charge that person with driving under the influence, much like drinking and driving.